In centerless grinding, it is common practice to grind above or below the centers of the grinding wheel and the regulating wheel. The tangential angle, at which the work piece contacts the grinding wheel and the regulating wheel, typically lies between 6 and 11 degrees.
This is achieved by adjusting the height of the rest blade. This height adjustment is realized, for example, with a wedge, a cam shaft or a motor-adjustable axle.
In addition, the diamond for truing the regulating wheel needs to be moved to the center height, i.e., the height of the rotational axis of the work piece, in order to realize a straight surface line at the contact height of the work piece with the regulating wheel. For this purpose, the diamond height of the regulating wheel initially needs to be realized in an adjustable fashion. However, an exact adjustment is still difficult because the truing needs to be carried out in an offset fashion referred to the circumference.
In angular infeed grinding, in which the rotational axis of the grinding wheel is not parallel to the rest blade and the rotational axis of the regulating wheel, the blade needs to be inclined in order to prevent or minimize distortions on a shoulder of the work piece.
Regardless of the grinding infeed, the adjustment of the blade height is always tedious. In addition, different heights need to be tested beforehand in order to achieve an optimal circularity. Furthermore, the height needs to be readjusted as the grinding wheel wears down. However, since the region between the grinding wheel and the regulating wheel only provides limited space, height adjustment systems cannot be realized as massively as it would be required for supporting a work piece. When grinding outside the center height of the grinding wheel, profile distortions therefore occur on its shoulders in angular infeed grinding.